To Be a True Master - part 13
by B. Juster II
Summary: The (long) story of a new pokemon trainer, his quest for a legendary evil that he released, and all his adventures along the way


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
TO BE A TRUE MASTER - THE JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME  
(Part 13)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Part 23.The Battle For The Fire Stone! (Continued)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
After a moment of silence, in which Lark, Arcanine and I stared intently at Robert, he sighed and looked over at his boat. "I suppose you'll be wanting a ride on my boat, eh?"  
"Thank you sir!" Lark said, shaking his hand and giving him a wide grin.  
"Well, if you show me my favorite pokemon, I'll be glad to take you to Porta Vista."  
"What pokemon is that?" I immediately reached for my pokeballs.  
"Which pokemon is that?" I reached for my pokeballs.   
Robert adjusted his glasses and looked into the sky. "Butterfree," he whispered reverently.   
I smirked, my trainer's pride coming into effect. "'Course I do, the strongest ever! He assisted me in the defeat of the Cerulean Gym!"  
Robert looked down at me skeptically. "Well, we'll just have to see about that, and the pokemon?"  
"Oh, right!" I jumped slightly and unclipped my pokedex from my belt. A minute later, Butterfree had been transferred to me in temporary exchange for Ivysaur.  
"I choose you!" I threw Butterfree's pokeball to the ground with a practiced aim, and the purple creature sprang up into the air, where he immediately started swirling and diving, stretching his wings.  
Poor Butterfree didn't get far. In a blur of movement, Robert had caught Butterfree and towed him to the ground, struggling wildly. In a split second, Robert had a magnifying glass and was inspecting Butterfree's every inch. "Most excellent specimen!" he said professionally.   
By now, Butterfree was getting tired of being held down and inspected like a lab animal, and geared up to attack. Just as he fired a Psybeam attack which would have surely caused Robert great damage, the man stood up. He took no notice of the beam which narrowly missed him, hitting a cheerful Krabby crawling out of the water.  
"How much do you want for this Butterfree?" Robert asked, reaching into his jacket.   
I was caught off-guard as Robert pulled out several hundred-dollar bills. "Uhh, I'm not selling him, sir."  
Robert gave a knowing smile. "You are a wise trainer, Jack. Had you sold off your pokemon like common objects, your trainer license would have surely been revoked."  
"Ah," I observed quietly. The silence was broken by Jessie, James and Meowth returning noisily.   
"Meeeeowth's back!" Meowth cried as he leapt onto my head and stared suspiciously at Robert.  
I turned to see what Jessie and James had chosen, and wasn't very much surprised. James was now wearing dark blue jeans and a matching sweater, topped off by a backwards black hat with a suspicious red 'R' on the front and back. On his hands were fingerless black gloves with 'J' printed on the back.  
Jessie wore the same hat, but had chosen a light blue sweater and lighter blue jeans. She also sported the 'J' gloves, except they were red.   
"So what do you think?" They asked simultaneously. I opened my mouth to speak, but Meowth beat me to it with two simple words.  
"Like idiots!"   
Jessie and James snatched Meowth away from my realtive safety and started pounding him into the ground. "We-didn't-ask-you-big-MOUTH!" They barked with each hit.  
Better than before," was Lark's opinion after they had finished pulverizing Meowth. Watching Meowth, who Arcanine was helping up, I quickly agreed.  
"Well, all aboard that're goin' aboard," Robert said as he walked smoothly up the ramp onto his luxurious yacht. A motor started to quietly hum as we all followed him, looking around at the incredible boat in wonder. Ten minutes later, we were headed out to sea, this time on what seemed liked a miniature luxury liner. Arcanine had stalwartly placed himself in a corner of the bridge tower and refused to look over the side of the boat, water being his enemy.   
Robert laughed long and low as he climbed down from the bridge and passed Arcanine on his way to the front, where Jessie and James were reorganizing their backpacks. Lark and I had let out our pokemon to get some fresh air. My Ninetales and Lark's two fire-types had likewise taken refuge with Arcanine, while Blastoise was giving water rides to Raichu and Ivysaur. Pidgeot had long since disappeared with many a screech into the sky, carrying Lark's Pikachu with him.  
"Ah see that you two have quite a menagerie here," Robert said as he looked over Drowzee, who enjoyed the attention.  
Robert motioned me over to him, and I complied, after giving Arcanine a reassuring word.   
"Jack, I was wondering if you would trade that fine Butterfree of yours?" he said in a low voice.  
"Why do you need him?" I replied.  
"I am a pokemon collector and breeder, and I am looking for a healthy butterrfee to pair with mine at home, but I haven't found many good ones."  
"Well, I guess I could trade him, but what would you give me for him?"  
Robert thought for a moment, and was about to speak when a shout came down from the bridge. Robert looked up at the yacht's pilot, who was hanging out of a window, pointing with a pair of binoculars excitedly.  
"Sir! Dragon pokemon pod not far off to the west!" He yelled again over the whipping of the wind.  
Robert looked off behind me, then gave a little smirk and turned back to the pilot, who was waiting. "Bring us up behind them, give it three quarters speed and prepare for some tricks!"  
Then, Robert opened up his jacket. Inside were six pokeballs, with different symbols, like fire, water, electric. He unclipped one with a snowflake on it, and released its pokemon.  
"Jynnnnnnx!" sighed a purplish-red humanoid pokemon. I realized why he wante to use Jynx. Dragon pokemon's only weakness is Ice, and Jynx was the queen of ice.  
Robert quickly moved to the front of the boat, the Jynx following him. "This might get a little messy, so you might want to remove any pokemon that don't need to be out," Robert advised Lark and me. Ninetales and Arcanine didn't need any other encouragement, and threw themselves into their pokeballs, followed by a nervous Ivysaur, Raichu and a reluctant Blastoise. Pidgeot followed, after putting Pikachu down. All of Lark's pokemon were recalled.   
The engines sped up, and water began to spray up on deck every few seconds, as the boat sprang forward. Soon enough, I saw our objective. About twenty Dratinis and Dragonairs were leaping from the water, hanging in the air for a moment, then diving back down with hardly a sound.   
Jynx climbed up onto the railing of the boat, balancing unnaturally in the bobbing, while Lark and I staggered around, trying to hold onto the slippery rail.   
"Blizzard!" Robert commanded, pointing towards a pair of Dragonairs closest to us. Jynx threw her hands forward with a wail, and an icy blast roared out into the ocean. The Confederate flag froze solid in an instant. It took a little longer for the Dragonairs, who still only had time to whip their heads around, before they were stiff and bobbing in the ocean.   
Robert grinned, not noticing his hat flying off into the wind, and pulled a pair of pokeballs from an inside pocket of his jacket. He turned to the side of the boat and concentrated on a single throw to capture the Dragonairs.   
While he leaned over the side, intent on his task, the Dragon pod suddenly whipped around. And they were all heading right for us, diving in and out of the water, a fire in their eyes.   
"Uhh, uhhh, ehhh," I pulled at Robert's coat tail with one hand, while I stared transfixed at the angry pokemon.   
"Here they come!!!!!" I yelled when they were just in front of us. Just in time, Robert recalled the now full pokeballs and dove to the floor. I quickly grabbed Lark and hauled her down with me.   
The next few seconds were filled with thunks, pokemon cries, and a yelp from James. I looked up. Dratinis were hurtling overhead, some hitting parts of the boat and falling back into the water, others missing completely. A long, silver body passed overhead, a Dragonair. I turned to Jessie and James, who were huddled together with Meowth.   
A Dratini fell short, and hit James full force, sliding him back across the deck until he came up short against the bridge tower, a Dratini flopping in his lap.  
I felt Lark turn over close to me, and then a pokeball was hurled as James sat, shaking his head. I had just enough time to see Dratini turn a bright energy red, still jerking, before the yacht gave another shudder.  
Then, all was quiet, except for the sound of the ocean and the water spraying over the deck lightly.   
"Pilot, set course for Porta Vista again," said Robert above me. I stood up slowly, water pouring out of my hat, hair, shirt and shoes. Lark, Jessie and James were much the same, but miraculously, Robert had come out perfectly dry, though he had lost his top hat.  
"That seemed rather dangerous," James groaned as he rubbed his chest where the Dratini had struck.  
"Yes, wasn't it a simply extraordinary experience?" Robert said in an excited voice. "Truly a tale to tell your children!"  
Lark wrung out her long hair with a grin and seemed to agree with Robert as she produced a pokeball from her hand. "Unlike you little wimps, I got a prize for it all!"  
"You would come out of a chase with a new pokemon, wouldn't you?" I growled, pulling off my hat with a rush of escaping sea water.   
"Ah, Lark, but I got two Dragonairs!" Robert said with a smirk, comparing his two pokeballs to Lark's one.   
  
  
After that, we all went below decks to different rooms to change clothes, which Robert had put in the onboard washer/dryer machine, and dry out our backpack materials. Lark's pack was waterproof, which only made me more frustrated, to her obvious delight.  
Arcanine and I were first up on deck, since Lark was helping Jessie, and Meowth was cowering below, with his hatred of water. I found Robert holding Lark's little Growlithe (which he had borrowed from her) up to his frozen flag, melting it out with the puppy's lowest flame. It looked oddly as if he were using a blowtorch, not a pokemon.   
"Ah, Jack I was meaning to speak to you about that trade I mentioned earlier!" Robert put down Growlithe, who sat clumsily in a chair and panted, watching Arcanine with wide eyes. "How would you like a Dragonair for your Butterfree?"   
The first words that sprang to my mind were 'this deal is insane!' -which it was. Dragonair, one of the rarest and most powerful pokemon, for a rather common Butterfree. "Isn't that a bit unfar of a trade?" I asked, hating to be honest.  
"Not in terms of value to you and me," he said, pulling out a Dragon-symboled pokeball. "I have over 400 pokemon - 135 species to be exact, and I already have 5 Dratinis and Dragonairs, not including these two, and one Dragonite, but only one butterfree."  
"Well, where will you keep Butterfree?" I asked as a last assurance of Butterfree's new trainer.  
Robert laughed. "Oh, don't worry about his well-being! I have over 1000 acres of open lands on an island a way off in the orange islands, with lakes, forests, fields, and anything else a pokemon would want. I keep all my pokemon there, where they grow and reproduce. I am re-populating some of the rarest species there naturally. Butterfree will have all the freedom and companionship he could ever hope for!"  
"Sounds like a poke-paradise," I murmured, looking over Butterfree's pokeball. "Much better than what I could give him, staying forever in a cramped pokeball at Professor Oak's laboratory..."  
  
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Part 24. Ultrareon The Magnificent!  
  
  
  
  
  
By the end of the trip, I had a new Dragonair, which was sent to Professor Oak, for I had no room for it on my team. Professor Oak couldn't stop thanking me, the guy even had tears in his eyes visible from my small pokedex screen. He said he had been looking for a dragon type for his research, and I gladly let him study it. I owed it to him for all he had done.  
It was a leisurely ten hour trip from the point of the trade, and we pulled into Porta Vista harbor at eight o clock, an hour before nightfall. Robert had a limousine waiting for him, and offered us a ride to Fuschia City, which I gratefully accepted. At 9:15, when I was just nodding off in the back of Robert's limo, quiet except for Lark and Robert's quiet talking, we stopped.   
I jerked awake when the door opened and James and Jessie hopped out. Lark helped me, yawning, out.   
"Thanks for the ride, Mr. Garner!" Lark said, elbowing me hard.  
"Oh, yeah, thanks!" I piped in, forcing my eyes open.  
Robert laughed and answered "It's quite allright, boy. It was on my way home anyway! I would suggest you go straight to the pokecenter, they offer rooms to trainers at night." Then, he drove off.  
"What?" I said, turning around to stare at my companions. "We could have stayed at the pokecenter all this time? WHY'VE WE BEEN STAYING IN EXPENSIVE HOTELS?" Now I was awake.  
"We didn't know!" Jessie, James, Lark and Meowth countered weakly and guiltily. "Now common, Fuschia's just over this hill, let's go."  
Still ranting over the prices of hotels, and how much we could have saved, I followed the four up a steep hill.  
"Dat's funny," Meowth said out loud, looking at the sky form James's shoulder. "Why's the sky red?" And of course, he was right. It was a cloudy night, and the clouds were stained a dark red, and that light was flickering, like a great big light switching on and off.   
I slowed to a stop in my complaints as a feeling of dread solidifed in my stomach. I caught up with Lark, and we all started to walk faster up the hill.   
  
In all the days I will ever be graced to open my eyes to, I will never forget what I saw whwn we reached the top of the hill. Like a gothic painting from a medieval time, the sight was heart-wrenching. Fuschia City, the once beautiful metropolis, was gone. There was now only fire, debris, screams of people, remains of buildings collapsing. Fires unquenchable raged over the entire city, leaving no part untouched.   
Heat rising from the ground made the scene watery in my eyes. I liked to believe that, but it may have been tears, as I witnessed homes imploding, people running from the blaze, anda once proud city reduced to nothing.  
On the southern side of the city, below us, I noticed some concentrated action. I grabbed a set of binoculars from James, who looked stunned. Through the binoculars, I saw something of a battle going on. A group of 20 fire pokemon, 10 Charizards and the rest Magmars and Rapidashes, were advancing slowly towards some boys and other pokemon. Two Gyarados and a Blastoise were making a valiant stand beside three trainers, trying to hold back the determined attackers. When I looked closer, I saw that the Charizard's eyes were glowing, as well as the Magmars and Rapidashes.  
About 17 other boys ran up behind the first three, and started throwing pokeballs. I knew there must have been fierce sounds as the pokemon popped out, but from where I was, it was silent. A wave of assorted pokemon, Raichus, Electabuzzes, A Clefable, Arcanines, Pidgeots and other fire and electric types lit into the enemy Charizards.  
I lowered the binoculars, and gulped down a lump in my throat. "Common, we've gotta help!" I choked out, then staggered up, and started running down the hill. I assumed the rest were following me, and anyway, with my backpack on, it was near impossible for me to stop, so I kept on going, heading for the steadily nearing pokemon fight.   
As I approached, I saw two of the Charizards collapse into the dust. Oddly enough, they glowed red and returned to pokeballs in the outstretched hands of several of the trainers.  
With an earsplitting roar, Arcanine seemed to fly over my head in a devastating Take Down attack. He hit a Magmar dead on, hurling him back into a Charizard. All three rolled over, but only Arcanine got up. He whirled and blasted out a ball of fire, throwing a Magmar to the ground, then kicked sand up into a maddened Charizard's eyes. The two Gyaradoses curled around the injured pokemon, and a moment later, the trainers had run up and recaptured them into their proper pokeballs.  
A boy who I thought I recognized whipped past me, yelling to all the others. "Water pokemon! Anyoen with water pokemon, deply them and help put out these fires!"  
Of course, I sent out Blastoise, and James sent out his Graveler, who wasn't a water type, but could throw dirt on the fires and go nearer to the flames than anyone else. Along with my Blastoise came Pidgeot, who I set to work with his whirlwind attack.  
Before long, the fires on our edge of the city were out, but most of Fuschia was still wrapped in flames unquenchable by two Gyaradoses, a Blastoise, Pidgeot and Graveler.   
"That's all we can do here!" Said the boy who had run by before. I hadn't noticed him come up behind me though.   
He was speaking to all of the other boys, and Lark and Jessie too. "Officer Jenny says help's on the way, and my Dad's bringing over a truckload of pokemon."  
Then I recognized him, and most of the boys, thogugh some of them were obviously new. James Garner and his southerner friends, with all those fire types!  
Zips and return commands filled the air as all the pokemon, mine too, returned to their pokeballs.  
"Hey! Wazzup Billy Yank?" James chirped cheerfully as he turned away from the smoldering city to me, face covered with black ashes, a ragged group of blackened boys behind him, but still looking bright and wearing a grin.  
  
"S-s-so then thi- this, and whoosh! Then bam! And th-then then there was f-f-f fire!" I had been trying for a while to understand the stutterings of one Mark Rolt, one of the southerners, who was trying to explain the events of the evening, but was failing miserably due to his stuttering problem.   
Lark, Jessie, James, Mewoth and I were walking along a quiet path that lead around Fuschia City, which Offier Jenny had warned us to stay away from for the night. The southerners had changed greatly, at least in their dress, though they acted much the same.   
They marched in a double file column, ten long, since there were twenty-one of them in all, and James marched in the front two. They all wore grey, slightly baggy jeans, and a dark blue or black shirt, over which they wore a grey button up overshirt of a strong, but not dressy fabric. Most wore assorted hats, from cavalry (think cowboy, sorta) with a confederate badge on the front, to backwards black or grey baseball caps, decorated with either infantry or cavalry badges. They all had great black belts with gold buckles stating three letters 'CSA' (Confederate States of America). On their hips they wore leather sheaths, which held powerful bowie knives. James assured me that these were only for camp use, and were not ever used for fighting. All of them wore tough hiking boots, which were weathered.  
Each of the Southerners carried a grey hiking pack with a sleeping bag on top, and tin cups and bowls clinking softly at their sides as they walked.  
James broke formation and took up step beside me, grinning and tipping his cap at Lark, who turned slightly red and walked on quickly ahead. "Hey, Billy-"  
"My name is Jack," I said, not crossly, just reminding him.  
"Oh, okay. Jack," he said, then continued. "How do you like the new Confederate Trainers?"  
I spoke honestly. "Are they a military unit, or are they trainers?"  
James gave a hoot of laughter. "Naw, they're just tryin' to impress those two girls you brought with you, I've almost never been able to make 'em march this perfectly before." As a joking afterthought, he added "Can I keep 'em around?"  
There was a moment of silence between us, which was broken soon. The sound of hooves stamping ground came faintly and far ahead, coming closer, and all the southerners stopped.  
Less then a minute later, something red shimmered ahead, and as it became clearer, I realized it was 2 Rapidash, with boys on their backs. One of the boys was tall and lean, about thirteen, with brown hair and confident blue eyes. He wore a dark brown cavalry hat, and a dark brown leather jacket over a grey shirt that said 'Son of the South'. At his side was a coiled whip.   
Next to him, on the other Rapidash, was a 12 year old boy in army camouflage pants, who wore no hat, so that his spiked blonde hair showed.   
Both of them reared their horses up right beside us, and instantly, the older boy swung down, sweeping off his hat and bowing. Not to us though, to Lark. Before anyone knew what had happened, he had taken Lark's hand in his own and kissed it cordially. He looked up and flashed her a charming grin, and was just introducing himself, when James cleared his throat beside me.  
"Yep, I know you're there, Garner," the boy said, and reluctantly turned away from a very red Lark.  
"This," James said with a proud grin "Is my friend, and the official scout   
and dashing rogue of our group, Trevor Dunadain!"  
Trevor didn't appear to be much on manners, except to girls, and didn't   
seem to notice me, but pulled out a map and a flashlight, the latter which   
he fitted into a clip on his shoulder, so it shone down onto the map.  
"Josh, Adrian and I chased it about a mile down the road from here, but it   
kept turning and attacking us, so we had to break off, but we saw it headin'   
off for the Fuschia canyon 'bout twenty miles off into the wild." Trevor   
switched off the flashlight and looked off in the direction from which he   
had just come. "We did find a suitable camping ground though, and Adrian's   
there with the girls, he got knocked off his Rapidash and is kinda weak."  
"How far off?" James asked, stifling a yawn. It was already 9:50.  
"Less than half a mile," Trevor said, climbing back up onto his Rapidash,   
who his comrade Josh in the army pants had been holding. They both nodded,   
though Trevor added an extra for Lark, then they whipped around and took off   
down the road like thunderbolts.  
"You heard 'im boys, food and rest jest a couple minutes ahead!" James   
barked, and we all started marching faster.  
  
Ten minutes later we turned off the path and doggedly walked across a   
barren, grass rippling land. Five minutes later, we came over a tall hill   
into a clearing surrounded by small grassy hills. A large bonfire was   
roaring, and there were three girls just taking cooking equipment off of it.   
Three boys, Josh, Trevor and another, were ravenously devouring their   
dinner, which looked to be actually cooked, not trainer rations.  
With whoops and hollers, the once orderly line of Southerners dissolved   
and   
charged into the camp, hurling their packs into a pile and surrounding the   
three girls, who were hard put to the task of feeding the mob.  
Ten minutes after the mad rush, James came over to sit down beside me.   
Lark and Jessie were questioning the other three girls, and Meowth and James   
were eating dinner with the other southerners, telling apparently hilarious   
stories.  
  
  
To Be Continued.... Right now an important note for the next part   
(whenever THAT gets done!)  
  
Allright, now I've realized (especially when it happened even to me) that   
there might be some confusion regarding the now two James's in our story.   
James the southerner, and James of Team Rocket. That taken into   
consideration, I am changing the southerner James's name to Jamie. Please   
try to remember this, or else you'll be dazed and confused about the next   
part. As always, thanks to everyone who reads this story. And keep sending any flames or complaints (maybe even *gasp* a compliment! lol) to brenndon_juster@hotmail.com  
Faretheewell, whereever thine paths may lead. Brenndon Juster II  
If you are reading this story on fanfiction.net, I rarely update here, so if you want to see any continuation of this, go to http://tptl.virtualave.net - to my author name Brenndon Juster II. Thanks, and good luck to you all, wherever you need it. B Juster II.  



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